On this day, 16 April 2006, American-born naturalized British composer, musician and lyricist performed at Cardiff International Arena, his 1970s musical version of War Of The Worlds live for the first time on a tour of UK venues.
Recorded in 1978 and issued in album form. For 2006, he developed a stage show with many of the original singers, including Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues and Welsh acting legend Richard Burton on film.
On the day, 15 April 1976, Prog rock keyboard legend Rick Wakeman played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre.
The tour was in support of his latest album No Earthly Connection released the same month and peaking at No.9 in the UK album charts.
Following a lengthy world tour, Wakeman relocated to Herouville, France in January 1976 to record the album with his rock band, The English Rock Ensemble.
His previous two albums, Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1974) and King Arthur, were concept albums that featured a symphony orchestra and choir that were costly to produce. When it came to recording No Earthly Connection, management at A&M Records insisted to Wakeman that an album with an orchestra and choir was no longer an option.
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On this day, 14 April 1997, pop/rock band Beautiful South played Cardiff International Arena, with support provided be Space.
Formed in 1988 by Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway, two former members of the Hull group The Housemartins, both of whom performed lead and backing vocals.
Other members throughout the band's existence were former Housemartins roadie Sean Welch (bass), Dave Stead (drums) and Dave Rotheray (guitar). The band's original material was written by the team of Heaton and Rotheray.
The 1997 UK tour was in support of their most recent album Blue Is The Colour released in October 1996.
The album spawned 4 singles, the first being "Rotterdam", which peaked at No. 5 in the charts in September 1996.
The follow-ups were "Don't Marry Her" which reached No. 8 in December, "Blackbird on the Wire", which got to No. 23 in March 1997, and finally the single "Liar's Bar" which just missed the Top 40 in June.
The lyrics to "Don't Marry Her" were substantially altered for radio release – changing from "Don't marry her, f**k me" to "Don't marry her, have me", and with "sweaty b*llocks" becoming "Sandra Bullocks". On "Liars' Bar", Paul Heaton's vocal consciously imitates the style of Tom Waits, while in "Alone" the bass line serves as another allusion to him. The album itself topped the album charts on 2 November 1996.
Setlist
We Are Each Other
Tonight I Fancy Myself
Have Fun
Mirror
The Sound of North America
Everybody's Talkin'
(Fred Neil cover)
Blackbird on the Wire
Old Red Eyes Is Back
36D
Domino Man
Hold on to What?
Don't Marry Her
Liars' Bar
You Keep It All In
Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)
Pretenders to the Throne
Encore:
Your Loving Arms
One Last Love Song
Lean on Me
(Bill Withers cover)
Encore 2:
Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud)
Alone
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On this day, 13 April 1997, British funk and acid jazz band Jamiroquai played the Cardiff International Arena.
Formed in 1992, they are fronted by vocalist Jay Kay, and were prominent in the London-based funk/jazz movement of the 1990s.
Their style is characterized by sounds taking influence from black music and lyrics having dealt with social and environmental justice.
Following the success of their third album Travelling Without Moving released in Sept 1996 which peaked at no.2 in the UK album charts sales were helped by the success of "Virtual Insanity", which won a Grammy Award and four MTV Awards.
The album went triple platinum album in the United Kingdom
and was certified platinum by the RIAA in the United States.
"If I'm not mistaken," noted Jay Kay as 1997 closed, "Travelling Without Moving has now sold well over five-and-a-half million worldwide, with a million-and-a-half here [the UK] and another million in America, Cleaned up at the American MTV awards and just come back from supporting The Rolling Stones over there. In fact, we even met Jack Nicholson backstage in Las Vegas the other night. He said he loved the show, which was nice."
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On this day, 12 April 1996, rock band Terrorvision played Cardiff University on their Regular Urban Survivors Tour having released their album “Regular Urban Survivors” the previous month.
Formed in 1987 (as The Spoilt Bratz) in Keighley, West Yorkshire, England, and initially disbanded in 2001.
The band used Bradford as a base after the name change to Terrorvision in 1991, by which time the band members had all moved there.
Setlist
Pretend Best Friend
American TV
Enteralterego
Superchronic
Middleman
Celebrity Hit List
My House
Bad Actress
What Makes You Tick
Easy
Discotheque Wreck
Dog Chewed the Handle
Some People Say
If I Was You
Alice What's the Matter
Perseverance
Stop the Bus
Oblivion
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On this day, 11 April 1968, influential London rock band The Kinks played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre on their Something Else tour with support that included The Tremeloes and The Herd.
The band were promoting their Something Else album but
1968 also saw the release of the band’s classic Village Green Preservation Society, the band’s sixth studio album and the last album by the original quartet (Ray Davies, Dave Davies, Pete Quaife, Mick Avory.
The album failed to chart upon its initial release, and Ray Davies has called it "the most successful ever flop."The album was ranked number 258 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and it was described by Uncut in 2014 as a "brilliantly observed concept album".
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On this day, 10 April 1962, Danish/Dutch singing duo, Nina and Frederik played Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens.
Their repertoire consisted of a blend of folk music, calypsos and standards.
Their debut album, Nina & Frederik, charted at number 9 on the UK Albums Chart in February 1960.
Their second collection also entitled Nina & Frederik but with a different selection of songs, peaked at number 11 in the UK chart in May 1961.
Shortly after recording their live album "An Evening with Nina & Frederik at the Albert Hall" in 1966, shunning the limelight, Frederik insisted the duo retire and the couple eventually divorced in 1976.
Frederik died in the Philippines from gunshot wounds on 15 May 1994.
According to his ex-wife's memoir, Frederik was an avid sailor and settled in the Philippines in the 1990s. He became involved with an Australian syndicate involved in the trafficking of cannabis, using his yacht the Tiaping to transport the shipments.
On 15 May 1994, both he and his Filipina girlfriend Susannah were shot dead in a hut at Puerto Galera in the Philippines. The murderer is believed to have been another member of the syndicate.
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On this day, 9 April 1966, one of the most acclaimed and influential mod bands of the 60s the Small Faces played Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens.
The band were about to release their debut self titled album the following month.
It included the hit singles "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" and "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" and was well received by music critics and was popular with the public, rising to number 3 on the UK album chart remaining at the top for several weeks.
